A few weeks ago my kids started back-to-back swim classes. My son has been taking swim classes for a couple of years now. My daughter became eligible when she turned four. We set up at a poolside table. My son swims while my daughter waits, then they change roles.
On our first week of double swim class, I brought my Chromebook because I thought I might write. Ha! Even ignoring the risks of having my computer splashed by an over enthusiastic child in the near lane, there are far too many interruptions for me to do much writing at swim class. Reading a book there doesn’t work out well either.
Instead, I mostly end up entertaining the child who isn’t swimming while looking up periodically to watch the swimming child take his or her turn across the pool. My backpack is filled with things to keep a non-swimming child busy: small toys, puzzles, card games, markers, coloring books, and paper.
For the first couple of weeks my son liked his coloring book, not to color but to do the mazes in it. He was disappointed when he had solved all the mazes and there were no more to do, so I offered to draw a maze for him.
I used to draw mazes in junior high school. Maybe it was middle school. Either way it was a long time ago. I hadn’t thought about it for years. I just figured drawing a maze for my son would be a good way to kill time on that one day.
He liked the maze (and solved it easily).
The next week he asked for another maze. I happily obliged.
Last week I proactively drew him a maze so it would be ready for him when he was out of the pool.
When I’m drawing a maze I have to concentrate. When I’m drawing a maze I don’t think about things I should be writing or should be doing. I don’t think about what errands need to be run after class or how busy my week at work is going to be. When I’m drawing a maze I am relaxed.
Drawing mazes at swim class is my weekly meditation.
I started drawing mazes as a gift for my son. It has become a gift for me.
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